Sale town centre is set to welcome The Northern Light Cinema, marking the area’s first cinema in nearly 40 years.
- Trafford council has approved a luxury independent cinema to replace a former WH Smith, enhancing local culture.
- The cinema, located in Stanley Square, will feature two 57-seat screens and one with 39 seats.
- The project aims to contribute to the evening economy and support existing local businesses.
- Sale’s history of cinema venues will see a new chapter with this development.
Sale town centre is poised to experience a cultural revival with the opening of The Northern Light Cinema, a development that marks the first cinema in the area in nearly four decades. Approved by Trafford Council, this luxury independent cinema will occupy a former WH Smith outlet, bringing a new dimension to the heart of Sale’s shopping district.
Located strategically in Stanley Square, the cinema will feature two larger screens accommodating 57 seats each, alongside a smaller screen with a capacity of 39 seats. According to the planning portal of Trafford Council, the conversion from a retail unit to a cinema space is not only permissible but anticipated to inject life into the town centre without adversely affecting nearby residents.
Manero Ltd, the Derbyshire-based company orchestrating the project, submitted a design and access statement describing the cinema as a ‘welcoming and accessible’ civic space. The cinema is set to open its doors 364 days a year, aiming to offer a diverse range of high-quality films. “Our proposal will transform the space into a cinema showing a wide variety of quality films. The cinema will bring a vitality to the evening economy and benefit the current retail developments, bars and restaurants by offering an entertainment venue to complement the Stanley Square scheme,” reads the statement.
Sale has enjoyed a vibrant cinematic past, once home to several cinemas, the most prominent being the Odeon with its grand 1,940 seats in 1934, which eventually closed in 1987. Today, only the building remains, repurposed as a retail space but retaining traces of its cinematic grandeur. The other notable cinemas, including The Palace and The Savoy, offered entertainment to the community but eventually succumbed to closure due to various reasons such as modernisation and fire incidents.
Currently, Sale residents travel to nearby Odeon Trafford Centre, Vue Salford, or Everyman Altrincham for a cinema experience. The introduction of The Northern Light Cinema heralds a new era for Sale’s cinematic offerings, aiming to draw cinema-goers back to a local venue and regenerate interest in the town centre’s cultural offerings.
The Northern Light Cinema brings a fresh cultural opportunity to Sale, reestablishing its place in the town’s vibrant history of cinematic entertainment.
